Mumbai day 2

Day 2 in Mumbai. At 8:45 AM our guide, Hannah, arrived at our hotel. She was dressed in traditional Indian garb and was very charming. We instantly took a liking to her.



Our car and driver arrived after circling the block and we headed into traffic and waded through a sea of pedestrians along the roadside near the Khar train station. We circled the pigeon coop and headed toward Mumbai's southern reaches. Hannah explained many things to us about the sights we saw through the windows. I learned that the tuk-tuks we saw in our neighborhood were not allowed south of a certain point in Mumbai, only taxis. We also learned that cows are not allowed to wander freely south of that point either. She said that the cattle all have owners and if a cow wanders into lower Mumbai it is rounded up and its owner has to pay to retrieve it. We also learned that real estate in Mumbai is very expensive, so many people live in the suburbs and commute to jobs in town on the trains. This is just a small portion of what Hannah told us.

Our first stop was the public laundry. It is a vast area of basins and clothes lines where thousands of people each day have their clothes washed by a lot of men employed to do this. We marveled at the sight below us from a vantage point on a bridge.

Our next stop was the Tiferet Yisrael synagogue. It is a small synagogue run by a man named Aaron Ben-[something]. He impressed us so very much with his sincere dedication to keeping his congregation of B'nai Israel Jews in India vital and functioning. They don't manage to hold a daily minyan, but they do have Shabbat services Friday night and Saturday morning. He proudly told us of the 8 boys who took turns reading the Aliyot from the Torah each Saturday morning. He proudly opened the Ark for us to see the Torahs inside. He opened the case of one and proudly showed us how neatly the letters in it were inscribed. He proudly mentioned that there were enough prayer books for all to follow the Torah reading each week. This man devotes so much of his time and energy to this synagogue that we were moved to have met him.

Next we visited the Gandhi museum, dedicated to the life and deeds of Mahatma Gandhi. So much of what I know of this august man comes from seeing Ben Kingsley's portrayal of him in the film "Gandhi." Hannah agreed that the film and Kingsley himself brought Gandhi to life. The museum occupies a home that Gandhi lived in while he was in Mumbai. There are a series of dioramas on the top floor of this three-storey building, and a number of items used by Gandhi himself on display in the rooms of the middle storey. The lower storey contains books read by, written by or written about Gandhi. Very well presented. While we toured the house a monsoonal downpour erupted outside. We looked out the windows momentarily to see how much rain was coming down. It lasted only half an hour, but it was enough to leave puddles for Razelle to step in while wearing the Crocs she'd bought in Israel just for this purpose.

We drove on to two more synagogues, each in turn more impressive looking than the previous one, but the men who greeted us did not have that magic spark that Aaron of Tiferet Yisrael had. I remarked to Razelle that the larger the synagogue was, the less time we wanted to spend in it. The third and fanciest of them all rated a visit by Madonna, the singer and Kabala enthusiast. Her picture taken during that visit was on display there.

We went to find a place to eat lunch. Because we are keeping kosher, Hannah took us to a vegetarian restaurant called "Relish". Razelle raved about the food she ate – grilled cottage cheese with garlic and stir-fried vegetables. I had spaghetti in an Indian-spiced tomato sauce. We treated Hannah to lunch, as well. She was surprised and very appreciative. This gave us a chance to learn more about life in India in general and her life in particular. During this meal my problematic tooth hurt a lot. I think the filling has started to fail. I don't know how long I can put off getting it taken care of.

The remainder of our afternoon was devoted to seeing World Heritage Sites in the southernmost parts of Mumbai – the Victorian train station, the Taj Mahal Hotel and the Gateway to India. These are "must-see" destinations for all self-respecting tourists to Mumbai. Being self-respecting tourists ourselves, we can now say we saw them, too.





I was very impressed with the look of the Taj Mahal Hotel. It was recently reopened following repairs to the damage it sustained during last year's terror attack.

Finally, we drove to the Jewish Community Center to meet Leora Joseph and several other members of the JCC's dedicated team, two of whom are in Mumbai on an outreach program, one from Paris, France, the other from Syracuse, New York. Their names escape me, but I will find out soon. Razelle entertained them with stories of her life as a teacher in Beer Sheva. Apparently, there is a strong connection between Beer Sheva and Mumbai. Most of the people here we told where we live were aware of the place and had friends or family there.

We had supper in the Regal Enclave Hotel's own dining hall. Razelle had mushroom masala with steamed rice. I had Chinese-style tomato soup and sweet-and-sour stir fried vegetables. We shared a banana split for desert. The waiter brought us some anise seeds and sugar grains to eat as a breath freshener after our meal. I tried a few seeds and my tooth instantly was shooting with intense pain. Whoa! I may need to attend to that tooth sooner than I want.

We are in bed early. Tomorrow we must check out by 6:00 AM so we can get to our flight to Singapore on time. We had a short, intense, but well-spent time in India and it's time to sample the next country on our journey.